Serenity's Gifts to Firefly? by zoid

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Serenity's Gifts to Firefly?

POSTED BY: ZOID
UPDATED: Friday, April 9, 2004 12:01
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Wednesday, April 7, 2004 3:11 PM

With the BDM set to start production in June (not much longer now 'til we start getting some fresh buzz from the source, right?), I've been thinking about some of the things we might hope to see a little bit down the road.

Meaning? Well, when Universal spends the money on props and costumes for the movie, it only makes sense that the coming return of Firefly to TV on UPN (keeping fingers superglued crossed) would be that much better, because they'll get to use those items -- at rock bottom cost -- for the TV production. Get my drift?

Here, then, is my wish list for Firefly, er Serenity:

1. New Alliance soldier costumes -- I know it was a Fox production, but c'mon, those were from "Starship Troopers"; I recognized 'em right off the bat, and that realization didn't help my initial acceptance of the show. I mean, I liked "Troopers" even if they did get the wrong girl nekkid (ouch!) and then kill the wrong girl later. ...But, it'd be nice for the military types -- to include cruiser captains -- to get some big-money uni's. As it is, some of the officers' costumes appear ill-fitting, hardly what you'd expect from an industrial-military power like BlueSun/Alliance.

2. Update Serenity's interiors -- While I like the sparse and patched-together look of the old girl (reminds me of the inside of a C-130, and that's good), I can't help thinking that throwing some real money at just about everything, production-wise, can only help. With the right money they can raise 'lo-tech' to an art form.

3. Extra Stock Footage -- While JW and Co. are shooting some of the undoubtedly epic battle scenes, maybe they could reset and shoot the supes running around in somewhat different directions, different explosions, whatnot. This could then be spliced into future TV episodes, giving an epic feel for very low cost. Same goes for any planets/cities they visit: splash the cash on reusable galactic/planet/cityscapes for reuse in the series.

Okay, there's my big three. Can y'all think of some? How about a facelift for 'Vera'? How about some right-side-up corsets for Inara? I intend no disrespect to the fine set and costume designers of the original series; but, a big movie means a lot more money on these items. I imagine they're licking their collective chops, just thinking about it.

That's why I'm starting this thread. And just think, we'll get to see all that state-of-the-art 'lo-tech' gadgetry when Firefly gets back to series TV on UPN.

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"River didn't fix faith. Faith fixed River."

- Senator Richard 'Book' Wilkins, Independent Congress
author of A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence

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Wednesday, April 7, 2004 3:33 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Some good ideas there, although I think it is more likely that Firefly would end up on Sci-Fi Channel rather than UPN. After all, Universal and SFC are both owned by Vivendi, whereas UPN is owned by Paramount.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2004 3:42 PM

ZOID

Quote:

Some good ideas there, although I think it is more likely that Firefly would end up on Sci-Fi Channel rather than UPN. After all, Universal and SFC are both owned by Vivendi, whereas UPN is owned by Paramount.

Okee-dokee. I don't particularly care if it gets picked up by Univision or C-SPAN, as long as it gets picked up. I'll be watching it wherever, whenever. I would like to see it get picked up in such a way that props and costumes from the movie could be rented on the cheap, though. Same for the other items I mentioned.

If I were the studio exec in charge of financing Firefly: Serenity, I'd be thinking about the long haul and future profitability. Not only about making a great looking movie, but also about making the greatest looking TV series ever...

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"River didn't fix faith. Faith fixed River."

- Senator Richard 'Book' Wilkins, Independent Congress
author of A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence

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Wednesday, April 7, 2004 3:54 PM

JEBBYPAL

Okay, would really really rather it end up somewhere besides sci-fi. Don't have cable and don't want to be in a position to want it when I can't afford it!! Not to mention, sci-fi has a really bad history of canceling really good shows as well: recall The Invisible Man series anyone??

Best one liners ever right after firefly.

That said, i hope they don't change the interiors too drastically. Uniforms I can accept, but would be hard to accept new interiors for me. Wouldn't make sense cause the crew doesn't strike me as likely to redecorate. And you know we'd all be discussing the changes from now to judegement day taken up haken's bandwidth!

Ideas for extra battle shots are good. I'd really like to see the show end up on a network that can afford to give it the money necessary to maintain the quality special effects --- maybe with the end of the practice, alias, and west wing one of the big three can be convinced? Miracles can happen right?

Just hope the BDM outgrosses Star Wars 3 so it will be an easy sell to stations!

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Wednesday, April 7, 2004 4:32 PM

RKLENSETH

Lets get something straight here; 20th Century FOX owns the rights to Firefly TV. Unless 20th Century sells or license the rights to Universal then the chances at a Serenity TV Show or the resurrection of Firefly TV will occur on UPN or Sci-Fi or any channel for that nature is slim. Since 20th Century FOX and the FOX TV Network are under the same Corporation, FOX TV Network will get first dibs and if Serenity becomes a success than chances are FOX TV Network might take it up for themselves.

Oh, and play Cantr II at www.cantr.net.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2004 5:14 PM

LINDLEY

^And then cancel it again? I'd rather they didn't resurrect it at all in that case.....

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Wednesday, April 7, 2004 6:26 PM

VETERAN

Don't squat with your spurs on.

I'm for 1 and 3, but the only change to the Serenity's interior I'd like to see is a big red button on the bridge.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2004 6:37 PM

LINDYCAT

If they put FF on after The Simpsons, it could last longer than the X-Files, which is where I envision it in the long run. Plus Fox has decent budget to make it work well, I know we all hated them for trying to stamp it out in the first place, but I think we need to think about the REAL possibility that Firefly will return on FOX sometime in 2K6 or 2K7.

LC

"Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing."- George Orwell

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 2:07 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I also do not care what network brings it back, even FOX if they air it on the proper night. Sunday or Monday at 9 would be perfect in my opinion, and we do now have the power of a lot of Browncoats who never heard of the show until the DVDs came out, so wherever and whenever it airs will not be a problem.

Is it a fact that FOX retained tv rights, and just gave up feature film rights? Does that seem right to you? More than likely they have the rights to the episodes already produced, but that is something that could also be sold at a later date. I really doubt FOX will do an about face and bring it back to tv, it would be admitting they were wrong in the first place.

As for what a future series could inherit from the film, the sets are a given, along with a lot of stock CGI footage of Serenity and other ships. I hope they do not alter the look of the ship though, and I doubt if Joss would do that, other than give certain areas a bit more detail. I cannot imagine that the special effects could be much better than they were for the series, but with a little more money to work with they should be outstanding.

Supposedly the budget of "Serenity" the pilot was around 10 million, so he has about 3½ times that to work with now. But the process of producing a motion picture is a bit different than for tv, most especially the time aspect. In tv, the shows are turned around rather quickly but with a film it is a much longer ordeal, which means a lot of that money will be going to salaries for all the crew.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 3:23 AM

DARKSYDE

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
Is it a fact that FOX retained tv rights, and just gave up feature film rights? Does that seem right to you?

Acutaly. Yes. There are many different aspects to a shows copyright. Music, images, names, movies, ETC. The only "official" word we have ever been shown is that Universal aquired the movie rights. It was rather spacific in the official anouncement wich lends more creedance to FOX still haveing full controll of any future firefly tv series at this time. And would most likely end back up on that network for any kind of resurection. Second in line, oddly enough, would most likely be the WB since the two networks have been working quite closely together to take on the "Big Boys" over at NBC, ABC, and the like.

Also don't forget that most of the other stations listed (sci-fi, upn) were already shoped when the series first went off the air. They weren't interested then (god knows why) and not sure they'll be interested now, movie popularity or no.

"That's what happens when you call the FEDS!"

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 4:00 AM

RKLENSETH

Remember it is 20th Century FOX that owns the rights not FOX TV Network. 20th Century still and has always supported Firefly. When FOX TV Network canceled it no other channel would pick it up. So they put the episodes onto DVD with the three unaired episodes and then sold the movie rights to Universal who was willing and had the time to produce a Firefly movie.

Oh, and play Cantr II at www.cantr.net.

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 4:14 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Zoid wrote:

Quote:
With the BDM set to start production in June (not much longer now 'til we start getting some fresh buzz from the source, right?), I've been thinking about some of the things we might hope to see a little bit down the road.

Meaning? Well, when Universal spends the money on props and costumes for the movie, it only makes sense that the coming return of Firefly to TV on UPN (keeping fingers superglued crossed) would be that much better, because they'll get to use those items -- at rock bottom cost -- for the TV production. Get my drift?

Here, then, is my wish list for Firefly, er Serenity:

1. New Alliance soldier costumes -- I know it was a Fox production, but c'mon, those were from "Starship Troopers"; I recognized 'em right off the bat, and that realization didn't help my initial acceptance of the show. I mean, I liked "Troopers" even if they did get the wrong girl nekkid (ouch!) and then kill the wrong girl later. ...But, it'd be nice for the military types -- to include cruiser captains -- to get some big-money uni's. As it is, some of the officers' costumes appear ill-fitting, hardly what you'd expect from an industrial-military power like BlueSun/Alliance.

I think we all recognized the Starship Trooper costumes right off the bat. Joss has said they used them because they were inexpensive to rent. Makes sense to cut costs where you can.

Although I would like to see new costumes for the Alliance, I would rather stick with what we have if it means the money saved would increase the chances of getting the show back on the air.

Quote:
2. Update Serenity's interiors -- While I like the sparse and patched-together look of the old girl (reminds me of the inside of a C-130, and that's good), I can't help thinking that throwing some real money at just about everything, production-wise, can only help. With the right money they can raise 'lo-tech' to an art form.

I think adding a few things to Serenity would help a bit, so long as there are no major changes from the set we all know & love from the series. The set is pretty much a backdrop for the characters, who are our main focus, but too much background might distract from the cast themselves.

Quote:
3. Extra Stock Footage -- While JW and Co. are shooting some of the undoubtedly epic battle scenes, maybe they could reset and shoot the supes running around in somewhat different directions, different explosions, whatnot. This could then be spliced into future TV episodes, giving an epic feel for very low cost. Same goes for any planets/cities they visit: splash the cash on reusable galactic/planet/cityscapes for reuse in the series.

Makes a good deal of sense. This tactic has been used by many shows before, and would work well towards lowering production costs on a renewed series.

Quote:
Okay, there's my big three. Can y'all think of some? How about a facelift for 'Vera'? How about some right-side-up corsets for Inara? I intend no disrespect to the fine set and costume designers of the original series; but, a big movie means a lot more money on these items. I imagine they're licking their collective chops, just thinking about it.

That's why I'm starting this thread. And just think, we'll get to see all that state-of-the-art 'lo-tech' gadgetry when Firefly gets back to series TV on UPN.

I would like to see an Alliance cruiser in some sort of space battle. I would love to see what one of those flying cities is capable of in combat.

I am also hoping for a flashback sequence to the war showing Mal & Zoe in some big, desperate battle. It doesn't have to be Serenity Valley, but it does have to be epic.

I would like to see some sort of flashback to what was done to River, set in some huge state of the art lab perhaps showing some of those CGI 3-D pictures of Rivers brain or inner workings as the mad scientist types work. That would be interesting, and give new & old fans alike some insight into what the Blue Hands put River through.

Rklenseth wrote:

Quote:
Lets get something straight here; 20th Century FOX owns the rights to Firefly TV. Unless 20th Century sells or license the rights to Universal then the chances at a Serenity TV Show or the resurrection of Firefly TV will occur on UPN or Sci-Fi or any channel for that nature is slim. Since 20th Century FOX and the FOX TV Network are under the same Corporation, FOX TV Network will get first dibs and if Serenity becomes a success than chances are FOX TV Network might take it up for themselves.

Where did you get this info from Rklenseth? I have seen nothing anywhere to indicate that Fox still owns the TV rights. It is obvious they own the rights to the shows they produced, and hence the DVD rights to the show.

It is my understanding that Universal owns all rights to Firefly. Why would Universal buy only the movie rights, and convince Joss to write the script in such a way as to act as a springboard to a new TV series if they do not own the TV rights as well? That would make no sense.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 4:20 AM

BADGERSHAT

... I'm appalled at the idea of ANY Browncoat asking for a change!!!!!!!

I thought the whole point of all of this was we loved it as it aired, shortlived or not? Why would anyone want a change in the scenery? Or the costumes? And most 'specially, how could ANYONE want a change to Serenity herself???? That would be like giving Inara a wig, or Kaylee a spandex catsuit... not that I'd mind... buit you get the point. No changes to Serenity.

***************************
"I like smackin 'em"--Jayne

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 6:47 AM

DRYGUYSTOPHER

Quote:
Originally posted by zoid:

Okay, there's my big three. Can y'all think of some? How about a facelift for 'Vera'? How about some right-side-up corsets for Inara? I intend no disrespect to the fine set and costume designers of the original series; but, a big movie means a lot more money on these items. I imagine they're licking their collective chops, just thinking about it.

It is certaintly a sign of an enlightened mind to imediately follow a call for a rifel facelift with a call for a corset to be worn correctly. Yet another sign of the surprising class of Firefly fans.

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 6:49 AM

HANS

Count me as one of the people who think the interior of Serenity is perfect, and any change would be sacrilege! In fact, when I realised that they would have to rebuild all the sets for the movie I was very worried that they'd get the interior wrong...either because they wanted to add something "cool", or just because it would be so hard to replicate the original set perfectly.

I'm not so sure about the stock footage thing either. I remember way back when Star Trek TNG was starting, they had an idea that they could do the show on the cheap by building up a library of stock footage to reuse many times. While I know some generic footage was reused, this plan was largely abandonned as it would be too hard to get enough footage generic that could be reusable without looking cheap.

On the other hand, most effects shots are done with CGI. If the movie gave us numerous new CGI models of ships, stations, and cities, the same models could be used again relatively cheaply in new shots.

Hans

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 8:51 AM

SAMURAIX47

I recall seeing one of the articles when the green light for the BDM was announced that the budget is $35 million.

It would be awesome if they could build the front end of the lower deck, the ramp and some of the interior bay in a way that they could transport it to an exterior location so that they can actually have shots of people walking in and out on location. All those shots you see in the series was all done in a studio sound stage. Granted they have more control over the environment in a soundstage and can re-dress the set for various exterior locals... but it can also be limiting to what and how they shoot with the camera.

I think they should also take a lesson from Peter Jackson and plan on what they can't fit in the theatrical release, shoot it for the DVD extended edition. It's already obvious that the market is there for the DVD version of Serenity.

I bet all those Starship Troopers uniforms have all been re-used again for Starship Troopers 2 which BTW is going to be on the Action channel in a cpl weeks.

If they're cheap and saves them money I'm all for it... budget the luxuries first... like the actors, getting the whole cast right without compromising, the sets to really shine off the Firefly 'verse, and awesome never before seen SFX.

One question might be... and this is something that can be asked (hint, hint) if they are going to shoot the BDM at the FOX studios lot or Universal studios lot. Universal may be footing the bill... But aren't Joss' and ME's offices at the FOX lot? So why not use the personnel most familiar with the show who work at the studio the show was originally shot at? Or have they moved offices to Universal's lot? I suppose it's easy for Joss to move around. But for the rest, I don't know how mobile the people are that work on films... do they work for a studio full time and get assigned to a production crew or do they have to apply to work on a production and go where the production is located?

Jaymes

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 9:05 AM

SAMURAIX47

imdb.com says they are filming at Universal Studios' backlot so there answered my question, partly.

Jaymes

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Thursday, April 8, 2004 3:03 PM

ZOID

Hey 'coats:

When I issued my original list of 'things Serenity might give Firefly' in an oft-prayed-for return to network TV (actually CBS would fit my tastes best: they know how to go for the long haul and resurrect other net's cancellations), I included Serenity herself, much to the apparent consternation of the Faithful.

Before anybody goes accusing me of suggesting that they'd make her all streamlined and prettified, please recall that I specified "lo-tech, taken to an artform". As an example, since Firefly:Serenity will be a Western, think about the difference between the sets and costumes of TV's Bonanza and those of filmdom's "The Unforgiven". I'm not talking about slicking Serenity up; I'm talking about staying in character, but having the cash to apply some art to her interiors and to the cast's wardrobe. While -- as I stated earlier, but perhaps too obscurely? -- I think the costume and set designers did a wonderful job, they had a severely limited amount of money to spend. Think how much more those same geniuses will be able to achieve, applying their considerable skills while having a generous amount of money to spend on their craft.

That was all I was saying. They must be licking their chops thinking of the money they'll be able to spend on custom wood and metal work, instead of having to scrounge around through prop and wardrobe storage to try to find something that they can kludge together to get the job done on the bare minimum.

I think they will spend money on those things in the movie. I think we'll all be proud of the way our movie looks, and that the look will be 100% faithful to the Firefly of our hearts...

And I think, I hope and I pray that Firefly will return to TV, and be able to benefit from the money spent on the movie.

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"River didn't fix faith. Faith fixed River."

- Senator Richard 'Book' Wilkins, Independent Congress
author of A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence

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Friday, April 9, 2004 12:01 PM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Quote:
Originally posted by zoid:
I mean, I liked "Troopers" even if they did get the wrong girl nekkid (ouch!) and then kill the wrong girl later. ...

Had they killed Denise Richards, would anybody care? Diana Meyer actually acted the part of Dizzy really well (IMO she lifted the part whereas everyone else just 90210'ed it) - in fact the idea of Denise Richards trying to act is getting me real scared.

Quote:

2. Update Serenity's interiors -- While I like the sparse and patched-together look of the old girl (reminds me of the inside of a C-130, and that's good), I can't help thinking that throwing some real money at just about everything, production-wise, can only help. With the right money they can raise 'lo-tech' to an art form.

There is precedent of a sort with Trek - they used a lot of the props from the movie series. On a smaller scale, they managed to get round the problem of altering things on Crusade, another show that was slaughtered and shown out of order - but in that case, the costumes changed halfway through!

"I threw up on your bed"

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